Chapter 96 - 93 Lifting a Rock_1

The airlock opened three times, and all six astronauts finally entered the crew capsule.

Zhang Zhiguang helped them secure themselves in their seats, while Li Sheng reported to the ground:

"Contact Commander, this is 01, the rescue mission has successfully recovered all three astronauts, their vital signs are stable, requesting further instructions!"

Through his headset, Li Sheng heard continuous applause, the sound coming from various space agencies, applauding the brave astronauts.

Without a doubt, these six astronauts would become unique heroes once they returned to Earth.

After reporting safety to the ground, the three unlucky fellows started fumbling around inside Unity.

However, the thoughts of the individuals involved might have been different.

Lindgren sat in a spacious and comfortable chair. Unity’s cabin was almost five meters wide, very spacious inside, and their individual seats were more luxurious than first class, incomparable to the cramped conditions of the Union.

"Damn it, if the space shuttle program hadn’t ended, I was supposed to come up in a ship like this, this is what you call space travel!

Being crammed into a tin can shaking up into the sky is something that only happened in Gagarin’s time!"

Keimei Arii too looked enviously at the interior of Unity and gave a thumbs up to Zhang Zhiguang, who was adjusting her seat, saying in her broken Chinese:

"Zhang-san, you are China’s fierce tigers!"

Zhang Zhiguang gave an awkward smile out of politeness; he didn’t relish being praised by a shorty singing about reforms.

He and Li Sheng helped each other remove their life support backpacks and, after securing them, returned to their seats.

Deng Lei said, "We still have enough fuel, I plan to orbit a couple more times before heading back, the airport on the ground needs to prepare, maybe we can have a little free time."

As he spoke, he took out several packets of sealed iced tea from under the chair and tossed them over.

"Thank you, Deng."

Taking advantage of the iced tea, Oleg opened the plastic mouth and squeezed out more than half of it fiercely. After being in space for a few hours, he was both exhausted and parched with hunger.

Zhang Zhiguang had also "battled" for the whole morning. He took off his helmet, kicked his feet, and floated horizontally in the cabin.

"Brother Zhang, there should be food in the small cabinet on the left at the back; if they remembered to put in iced tea, they shouldn’t forget that."

Zhang Zhiguang opened the cabinet and found it crammed with various vacuum-packed foods, along with several small bags of wine.

"Hey, Dava Zhang, I think the numbers on here indicate the alcohol content, right?"

Oleg suddenly appeared behind him, greedily eyeing the wine in the cabinet.

"Konoenko, each person can only consume one bag, that’s 5 milliliters."

As soon as they heard about alcohol, Keimei Arii and Lindgren also cast longing glances, while Deng Lei and Li Sheng seemed eager to try it.

"Unity, this is Contact Commander, please refrain from excessive drinking. We will have the finest drinks prepared on the ground. Director Solovski just said he’s ready to fly to Qiongzhou, bringing a case of vodka and a case of brandy on a special flight."

"Don’t worry, Director Solovski, I’m just celebrating a little in advance," Oleg declared loudly and then squeezed the liquid into his stomach in one go, licking his lips with relish, and looking towards Keimei Arii:

"Keimei, you have a wife waiting for you on the ground, you can’t drink,"

...

From Texas, Ma Yilong called off the Dragon Spaceship’s launch sequence with disappointment.

The most difficult part of the rescue had been completed; it was highly unlikely that the Unity would fail reentry into the atmosphere, especially since it was only its second flight and the spacecraft must be in good condition.

Thanks to the Unity’s high-power antenna and the global satellite tracking network, live footage of the six astronauts relaxing in the crew cabin was visible to the ground control at any moment, lightening the atmosphere considerably.

During a video conference, Montal, head of NACA at the International Space Station, said to Lin Ju:

"Lin, your space shuttle saved three precious astronauts, and their families have already started making their way to Qiongzhou. You will receive thanks from everyone.

Member countries of the ISS will jointly cover the costs of this rescue mission and will also offer some reward."

Lin Ju: "This is entirely about human conscience. Once we leave Earth, space will assign us only the identity of ’humans,’ just like mutual aid amongst tribes, this should naturally be free of charge and simply the right thing to do."

Montal: ... (It seems what you want is not money, but something more.)

Suddenly, a new face appeared in the video conference. Badis, head of the Italian Space Agency, requested to speak:

"Everyone, the H1 space shuttle has already completed four flights, including two manned missions that sent five people into space. Why can’t we let it take over the ISS’s manned launch tasks?

After all, the Alliance Spaceship is a product of over half a century ago, and it may have structural design risks."

After Badis spoke, the reactions from various national space agencies varied.

Montal looked at Badis, thinking in his mind that this youngster should just drop dead, while the director of the Rusia Space Agency argued with a dark face:

"This incident with the Alliance Spaceship has nothing to do with quality, it was completely due to an unpredictable collision with space debris! It’s impossible to determine whose fault it is, and moreover, the Alliance Spaceship has had over a hundred launches, proving its reliability with facts long ago!"

The rest, from JAXA and members of the European Space Agency, were just there for the spectacle; they didn’t believe Badis’s interjection was accidental—he clearly wanted to stir the pot.

But they didn’t stop it, because although the ISS is called international, it is actually dominated by America and Rusia. Only they could carry out the largest manned and cargo missions, and the other member countries had to obey without a say.

After all, if they don’t have the capability to launch rockets, what difference does it make to them if they ride the Union, the Dragon, or a space shuttle?

As the saying goes, one mountain cannot harbor two tigers, let alone three; once the waters are muddied, alliances must be formed. The onlookers can benefit from both ends, and their status might even improve.

So for them, the more chaotic the situation, the better.

NACA and the Rusia Space Agency were well aware of these youngsters’ thoughts, so how could they easily compromise?

And even more importantly, when the plan to build the International Space Station was developed in 1993, America actually wanted to pull along a bunch of followers and do it alone, not even allowing Rusia in. It was only after the Space Shuttle Columbia accident, when there were no available manned spacecraft, that they allowed Rusia to join;

Later, when the space agency wanted to join, they were denied due to their low technical capability, and further in 2011, they were asked to pay without sharing technology. This led to the enactment of the Wolf Amendment, which prohibited NACA from engaging in scientific and technological exchanges with our space agency, completely cutting off our aspirations to join the International Space Station.

So in fact, the rescue mission undertaken by New Yuan Aeronautics and the establishment of Contact Commander were already slapping NACA’s face:

You claim their technology is inferior and do not let them join; now, you, the boss, can’t send people into space yourself and have to rely on someone else’s space shuttle. How reliable is that?

So NACA was in an awkward position, not mentioning China’s National Space Administration at all, only lavishing praise on Xinyuan Company because they had shot themselves in the foot.